Mother’s Day History

Mother’s Day History

Matthew 12:48 (KJV)

48 But he answered and said unto him that told him, Who is my mother? and who are my brethren?

The clearest modern precedent for Mother’s Day is the early Christian festival known as “Mothering Sunday.” This celebration fell on the fourth Sunday in Lent and was originally seen as a time when the faithful would return to their “mother church”—the main church in the vicinity of their home—for a special service. Over time the Mothering Sunday tradition shifted into a more traditional holiday, and children would present their mothers with flowers

and other tokens of appreciation.

The roots of the modern American Mother’s Day date back to the 19th century, before the Civil War (1861-65), where

Ann Reeves Jarvis of West Virginia helped start “Mothers’ Day Work Clubs” to teach local women how to properly care for their children. These clubs later became a unifying force in a region of the country still divided over the Civil War. In 1868 Jarvis organized “Mothers’ Friendship Day,” at which mothers gathered with former Union and Confederate soldiers to promote reconciliation.

Another precursor to Mother’s Day came from the abolitionist Julia Ward Howe. In 1870 Howe wrote the “Mother’s Day Proclamation,” a call to action that asked mothers to unite in promoting world peace. In 1873 Howe campaigned for a “Mother’s Peace Day” to be celebrated every June 2. Other early Mother’s Day pioneers include Juliet Calhoun Blakely, a temperance activist who inspired

a local Mother’s Day in Albion, Michigan, in the 1870s.

The duo of Mary Towles Sasseen and Frank Hering, meanwhile, both worked to organize a Mothers’ Day in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Some have even called Frank Hering

“the father of Mothers’ Day.”

The official Mother’s Day holiday arose in the 1900s as a result of the efforts of Anna Jarvis, daughter of Ann Reeves Jarvis.

Following her mother’s 1905 death, Anna Jarvis conceived of Mother’s Day as a way of honoring the sacrifices mothers made for their children. After gaining financial backing from a Philadelphia department store owner named John Wanamaker, in May 1908

she organized the first official Mother’s Day celebration at a Methodist church in Grafton, West Virginia. That same day also saw thousands of people attend a Mother’s Day event at one of Wanamaker’s retail stores in Philadelphia.

Following the success of her first Mother’s Day, Jarvis—

who remained unmarried and childless her whole life—

resolved to see her holiday added to the national calendar.

Arguing that American holidays were biased toward male achievements, she started a massive letter writing campaign to newspapers and prominent politicians urging the adoption of a special day honoring motherhood. By 1912 many states, towns

and churches had adopted Mother’s Day as an annual holiday,

and Jarvis had established the Mother’s Day International Association to help promote her cause. Her persistence paid off in 1914 when President Woodrow Wilson signed a measure officially establishing the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day.

In the United States, Mother’s Day continues to be celebrated by presenting mothers and other women with gifts and flowers,

and it has become one of our biggest holidays. Families might also celebrate by giving mothers a day off. More phone calls are made

on Mother’s Day than any other day of the year.

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